My Family's Tech Timeline by Arrianna Lee

Lighting up the classroom

arr2118849 — 2025-09-06 05:11:26 UTC

When I was talking to my dad about his experience in school, he mentioned that one of the main tools teachers used in the classroom was the overhead projector. He explained that teachers would place clear sheets to write down instructions or notes for students to write down. He thought it made the information easier to follow, since everyone could see the same thing at once, and it also made the classroom feel a little more interactive compared to just listening to the teacher talk.

Learning through movies

arr2118849 — 2025-09-06 05:12:20 UTC

One of my dad’s favorite ways to learn was always watching films during class on a big television. He explained that back then, schools only had a limited number of TVs, so they weren’t available in every classroom. Instead, they were rolled in on a cart and used for certain subjects, most often gym or history. In gym class, the films might cover topics like health, fitness, or making good lifestyle choices. In history, they usually showed documentaries or movies about past events and important figures.

Typing before keyboards

arr2118849 — 2025-09-06 05:12:43 UTC

My mom mentioned that she used to take notes and write papers on a typewriter. When she was in school, laptops didn’t exist, and she didn’t have access to a home computer, so she relied on a typewriter instead. She explained, “I used to have to type over and over again to get it just right. It was so time-consuming.”

The original computer system

arr2118849 — 2025-09-06 05:13:36 UTC

My mom mentioned that when IBM computers started being used in schools, it completely changed the way students could do their work. Unlike typewriters, computers made it much easier to write and edit assignments since you could quickly fix mistakes without having to start over. She also explained that being able to save documents and print them out was a huge time-saver compared to typing pages again and again.

From chalkboards to smartboards

arr2118849 — 2025-09-06 05:18:20 UTC

My cousin and I are only one generation apart, so we understand how great smartboards were in school. Teachers would use smart boards for lessons so that students could be more hands-on. "We would go up to the board and write down answers that the teachers had written for us. We also would use them to write down what we had written on assignments to check for mistakes with our classmates."

Math made simple and fast

arr2118849 — 2025-09-06 05:19:00 UTC

My cousin explained how much easier math became after the TI-84 Plus was released. She said, "It used to be so much more time-consuming to do longer math problems before the TI-84 Plus came out. We used to have to manually do each problem, which sometimes took up to ten minutes." She also explained how this calculator could create graphs and other charts, so students didn't have to do as much paperwork.

Reflection Response

arr2118849 — 2025-09-06 05:49:20 UTC

While interviewing my family, I learned about older technology that I wasn't familiar with before. As someone who considers themself as tech-savvy, it was great to learn how these devices worked. It was also nice to share similar school experiences with my cousin. I enjoyed using smartboards when I was younger, and in high school, I even bought a TI calculator, which made math much easier. I had a lot of fun with this project, and I think my relatives enjoyed helping me as well.